For some women addicted to opioids, selling sex to buy drugs can go become a dangerous way of life. When they want to seek help, treatment options are not always available quickly enough to provide them a safe path to recovery.
Addiction to heroin can trap women in a life of sex work and often leave them at risk of exploitation by human traffickers. One national hotline has tracked thousands of calls in the last three years from victims of human trafficking who report struggling with opioid addiction.
Syringe exchange programs are one of the most visible forms of harm reduction — an approach that strives to minimize drug use’s negative effects rather than punish people for using. But the philosophy isn’t without its critics, and an Indiana law means advocates need to debate harm reduction’s merits every year.
Doctors move fast in the ER. Every second counts. That’s why Dr. Gina Huhnke is excited about a new way to quickly check her patients’ history with narcotics. She’s the emergency department director of Deaconess Midtown Hospital in Evansville.
Like many areas in the Midwest, Ross County, Ohio is struggling to respond to a crisis of opioid addiction and overdoses. County officials there are trying a new, proactive approach: bringing drug interventions right to the doorstep of struggling addicts.
